William Garcia
Specialist Four
HHC, 5TH BN, 7TH CAVALRY, 1ST CAV DIV, USARV
Army of the United States
Pacoima, California
September 02, 1946 to November 01, 1966
WILLIAM GARCIA is on the Wall at Panel 12E, Line 4

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22 Apr 2001

William Garcia was my cousin who died in Vietnam before I was born.

Although I never knew him I felt like I did because of my mother. He was my mother's favorite cousin. They were the same age and they did everything together. She was sad when he left for Vietnam. The two of them were very close and went out the day before he was to leave. Little did she know it would be their last day together. They would write each other week after week. When my mother and family got news of his death my mother was devastated. She got a letter from him a week after his death which made it even harder. To this day she keeps all his letters and mementos in a box. She even named my brother after him.

I know I never got the chance to meet him but this is what my mother has said about him:

"He was a kind and generous person who always thought of others before himself. He knew his duty was to serve his country. He admitted to my mother he was scared to go, for he was only 20 and he had his whole life ahead of him. He might have been scared on the inside but he was very brave on the outside. He knew what he had to do. He died a very brave and courageous young man."

He is a hero to me and my family and he will never be forgotten.

God bless him and may he rest in peace ...

A memorial from his cousin,
Tracy Delgado
tdelg426@aol.com


 

A Note from The Virtual Wall

On 01 Nov 1966 units of the 1st Cavalry Division engaged in a bitter fight with the 93rd Battalion, 2nd VC Regiment, at Dam Tra-O Lake, 16 kilometers southeast of Bong Son, Binh Dinh Province. Twelve US soldiers died in the fighting:
  • 5th Bn, 7th Cavalry
    • 1SG Dayton L. Hare, Washington, DC, B Company
    • SGT William G. Mendenhall, Commerce City, CO, B Company
    • SP4 William Garcia, Pacoima, CA, HQ Company (medic with B Company)
    • SP4 Allan A. Milk, Long Eddy, NY, B Company
    • SP4 Robert L. Shuck, Newcastle, WY, B Company
    • SP4 Jose A. Vazquez, North Bayshore, NY, B Company
    • PFC Daniel J. Illi, Ann Arbor, MI, B Company
    • PFC John F. Knopf, New York, NY, B Company
    • PFC Michael H. Stoflet, Elkhorn, WI, A Company (Dist Svc Cross)

  • 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry
    • SGT Joshua T. Jones, Moyock, NC, HQ Troop
    • SGT Daniel T. Martinez, Clovis, NM, A Troop
    • PFC Leroy Burks, San Angelo, TX, D Troop

Visit John Dennison's
Medics on the Wall
memorial which honors the
Army Medics and Navy Corpsmen who died in Vietnam.

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